Laura Branton from the powerhouse NCAP Swim Club and Oakton High School swim programs has verbally committed to Georgia Tech. She’s one of the best American-born recruits that the Georgia Tech women have picked up in years.
Branton will have an immediate impact on Georgia Tech in many different spots. Her best times in yards:
- 50 free – 23.58
- 100 free – 50.79
- 200 free – 1:51.55
- 100 fly – 54.66
- 200 fly – 1:58.68
That should make her a three-event individual scorer at the ACC Championships as a freshman now that they’re scoring down to C-Finals. Last year, she would’ve been in the top 10 in the 200 fly, for example. The Yellow Jackets only had a single swimmer finish even in the top 16 in any event at that meet last year – sophomore Sarah Williford in the 1650 free.
If she swam her best, Branton would’ve improved every one of Georgia Tech’s relays at ACC’s – none of which finished higher than 9th (out of 11 teams).
She’s also only about two seconds short of what it took to qualify for NCAA’s last year in the 200 fly, and that’s the race where she’s shown huge improvements of late. After not swimming the race on-the-record during the 2011-2012 season, she came back to it as a sophomore in high school when she dropped 8 seconds, and then she dropped another 3 seconds as a junior.